


empty bodies in the big city

by gearyoak



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Blood and Gore, Graphic Description of Corpses, M/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 07:47:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19146634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gearyoak/pseuds/gearyoak
Summary: The dragging of shoes on concrete was a near constant now, the husky breathing of too many bodies bleeding through the walls and into the house. He tried to ignore it as best he could by putting his focus onto his sketchbook. It didn’t work out too well. The sun had been low when they first entered and the drapes made it even more difficult to see. Besides, there weren’t many interesting subjects. He had the outline of Finn sat against the wall and fiddling with the radio, but there were only so many pages he felt he was able to fill with the one guy while remaining morally and mentally sound.There were enough creepers in the world nowadays.





	empty bodies in the big city

**Author's Note:**

> me, after finishing the third episode and immediately following it up by watching zombieland: hey....know what would be sick
> 
> this is probably rlly boring and uh bad lmao but i wanted to put something out there so bad for these two. i read this over ONCE myself so it's gonna be a little hideous :^) all in all, this is just something I wrote that is kind of part of a bigger thing. So things are a bit different than the canon like character meetings and powers or lack thereof
> 
> again, if you skimmed over the tags, this is a zombie au so there's a lot of dead bodies, moving dead bodies, the description of both kinds of the dead bodies, violence, and blood. if you're going through and see something that isn't tagged that you think SHOULD BE, lemme know 
> 
> enjoy and also sorry

He never thought too much on how he’d describe the end of the world. Honestly, he didn’t really know if he could. It had been months since the worldwide ‘ _i_ _ncident_ ’, but it still didn’t feel like the world had completely ended. If anything, it was like everything had just been put on pause. There were still people like him - like them - and it was up in the air whether or not there always will be. If they survived long enough, settled in and managed safety for the long term, maybe the world would just start again. Picking up from a point humanity had gotten to before. Then again, maybe not. Maybe they were just prolonging the inevitable. Holding off on the stop button.

Pause, rewind, play. Stop?

Yeah. Up in the air.

 

/----\

 

Waking up to shuffling outside his tent still sent him reeling. He jolted, snapping up into a sitting position with his vision blurred and his mind lagging a few seconds behind. The only thing that gave his panic pause was when he blearily reached over to wake the body next to him and found it absent, sleeping bag empty. The voices just outside registered then, as well, and he slumped back with a light groan.

Once his heartbeat simmered down, he pulled himself back up, found his pants, then drug himself out of the tent and into the clearing beyond it.

Penny was the first to notice him. He was underneath the tarp in the makeshift dining area made out of several folding tables and lawn chairs. “Mornin’, Sean,” he greeted. Beside him sat Daniel, who looked maybe ten seconds away from passing out into his bowl of oatmeal. Penny nodded toward him, aiming an amused expression at Sean. “Breakfast time. Grab a cup and sit down.”

He huffed a laugh and shook his head, doing as he was told. The others must have been awake, by then, judging by the amount of coffee left in the pot. He knew the Swedish couple - Ingrid and Anders - they liked to wash their clothes pretty regularly and typically did it in the morning and out of the others’ way. The rest of Penny’s group were nowhere to be seen, but their tents were left open with no one inside, and Jacob was stationed in his usual spot in front of his own. He wrote letters, which Sean always thought was a little weird, but hey. Whatever helps a dude grieve, he guessed.

“Fog’s all cleared,” Penny stated as Sean poured himself some coffee. He set it aside to go about making a fresh batch. “It’d be nice to see where the stragglers ended up.”

“What do you think happened?” Sean asked when he joined them, scooting a chair over little by little with a few kicks so he didn’t have to put his mug down.

Penny shrugged. “Who knows. They might not even need eyes like we do. Maybe they stuck together by following their own noise. A few could have broken off, but if they head up north - “ he pointed at Sean, eyebrows raised in a silent ‘ _then I told you so'_.

“What’s that mean?” Daniel asked.

“It means they move in herds,” Sean replied.

“But more importantly, it means I’d be right,” Penny added.

“How ‘bout we keep our fucking voices down?”

Sean turned around with an apology on the tip of his tongue but it died there once he realized they weren’t the ones being addressed. A group of three emerged from the path that lead to the old, ruined greenhouses, one storming ahead of the rest. Cassidy didn’t look at any of them when she passed and didn’t say a word as she continued on toward the lake.

Hannah rolled her eyes at that, but didn’t call after her. Instead, she looked to the others. “There’s coffee, right? There better be.”

“Should almost be done,” Penny answered slowly. “Everythin’ alright?”

Hannah scoffed without giving a real answer, which left Finn to speak for her, starting it off with a nervous laugh. “Just a, uh, little family spat. I guess. Nothin’ to worry about.”

Penny didn’t seem satisfied with that but obviously read the unspoken promise of a talk later. Sean could tell by the look on Daniel’s face that he was put off at not being in on it. Secrets were bullshit when you’re nine years old, but he still aimed a short glare at his younger brother when he cut his gaze over. He hoped that conveyed Sean’s wish of him keeping his mouth shut. The last thing they needed was a nosy kid nagging them for their business. Hannah didn’t need another reason to hate Sean.

He’s snapped out of his thoughts when a hand falls onto his shoulder. Turning to face it brings him nearly nose to nose with Finn. “Hannah’s trying to restrict rations,” he stage-whispered, looking far too serious to _actually_ be taken seriously. “You in for taking her out?”

Before Sean could process how he would even answer that let alone fumble out the words, Hannah snorted and sat herself across from them on the other side of Penny.

“G’head and keep crying. You’re lucky I even let you eat.”

“Are we running out of food?” At Penny’s question, Daniel’s eyes widened. He looked between the three of them and pulled his bowl closer to him as discreetly as he could.

“No, not really. We just need to be more careful.” Hannah gave Finn a stern look. “And more sparing.”

Finn didn’t seem too affected by the scolding. Honestly Sean didn’t know if Finn could ever feel reprimanded; he’d never seen the guy with anything less than a carefree grin. Sean always thought that was a bit admirable given the state of things.

“Can’t hurt to have a little extra is all I’m sayin’,” he said, throwing a hand in the air in a defensive gesture, as if Hannah’s words had more bite to them. The other hand fell from Sean’s shoulder down to his thigh, right above the knee. “There’s a Z-Mart not too far into the city, right off the main drag. Why don’t you and I pay it a visit, sweetie? See if we can’t pick through it.”

Hannah made another dissatisfied noise into her mug. “Like that shit already hasn’t be ransacked.”

“We won’t know unless we check for sure. ‘Sides, Humboldt never got an evac, right? No one had time to pack up and leave.”

“Which means the entire city stayed and died there.”

“The herd should be more north by now,” Finn argued.

“That’s only if Penny’s right,” she said back.

“I _am_ right,” Penny snapped, offended.

To that, Hannah let out a frustrated sigh but ultimately relented. “Fine. But you’re taking the radio with you.”

“Yeah, of course!” Finn looked back to Sean. “Whaddya think?”

Sean didn’t give an honest answer, because the only thing his mind would focus on was the hand on his leg and how its grip tightened just a bit and only for a second when they made eye contact. The only thing he could manage was a one shouldered shrug and the nodding of his head.

Daniel looked more awake now. “Can I go?”

“No, no way,” Sean answered, maybe a little too quickly judging by the scowl that the younger adopted. “It’s too dangerous, _enano_.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Hannah, of all people. “Don’t pout, kid. You can help me clean Black Flag.”

Daniel’s face lit up. “Really?”

“Are you sure?” Sean couldn’t help but ask. He felt guilty leaving the group in charge of Daniel in general. He - in a million years - would never have thought to ask Hannah specifically let alone expected her to straight up volunteer.

Despite that, she nodded. “Yeah. Not a bad thing for a kid to know. Not anymore, at least.”

“Okay. Uh, thank you.”

Finn’s hand squeezed again and Sean’s attention snapped back to him. “Let me know when you’re ready.” He stood after leaving off with a wink and then headed for his tent.

 

/----\

 

Z-Mart was left miraculously untouched. The power had gone out for long enough that backup generators had long since decayed or had been spent, so alarms weren’t an issue either. The smell, however, was pretty rough. The front of the store was essentially a cloud of black flies that hovered over what was left of the produce section. The sweet smelling mold that grew from that added with the spoiled meat that sat in the freezers in the aisle over had Sean pulling a bandana over his mouth and nose.

Finn lead him to the back toward shelves of cans and boxed noodles. He kicked aside a burst bag of chips and sighed, shouldering off his backpack. “Not even the apocalypse could make me happy to see a can of Spam.”

“I hear that,” Sean said through a laugh. “That and,” he holds up a can of shredded beef. “Any meat in a tin can, to be honest.”

“I fuckin’ miss pizza. And queso. A cold as fuck beer in a hot as fuck shower.”

Sean made a noise of agreement, mostly at the first two he’d listed, but didn’t say anything. There were a million things he could add on, but the first thing that came to mind was his father’s pasta. He’d make it once every other month, maybe, when everyone’s schedules aligned. Sean’s throat closed at just the thought of it so he kept his mouth shut. Definitely not ready for that. He didn’t know if there ever would be a time where he’d be ready for that.

Finn laughed, the sound of it bashful. Sean must have been quiet for too long. “Sorry,” the older said, continuing to pack the food away in his bag. “Not like we don’t already have it bad enough as it is. Me reminding us ain’t gonna help anything.”

“No! Uh, no, you’re good. It’s just - _pop-tarts_.” He faced the shelf and away from the other so he couldn’t see how Sean winced at himself. “I, uh. Miss them,” he finished lamely, wishing he were born a fucking mute or something.

Fortunately - or unfortunately, depending on how long Sean thought about it - Finn laughed at that, too. “With our luck, we’d find the last, untouched box and it’d be brown sugar and that’s it.”

“Are you high?” He asked, scandalized. “That’s the best kind.”

“Oh, my little Sean.” Finn stood to rest a hand on his shoulder, giving it a few pats. “I wish it didn’t have to come to this, but I can’t have a fuckin’ heretic living in my camp.”

Sean nodded solemnly, playing along. “What are you gonna tell Daniel?”

“He’ll understand.” He gave one last, final pat before he picked up his bag. “I’m gonna check out the pharmacy. Yell if you need me.”

Sean waited until the echo of footsteps were far enough away that he was sure Finn couldn’t hear his shaky exhale. There were dead people walking the streets waiting for the chance they could tear the beating heart from his chest and he still couldn’t get over a two second conversation with a guy and the anxiety that entailed. _Maybe_ , he thought to himself, snatching a can of green beans and throwing it into his bag none too gently, _if you didn’t say such_ stupid _shit, you wouldn’t have to_ worry _about anxiety._

He probably shouldn’t be too hard on himself. A lot was riding on making a good impression, making sure that everyone liked him and Daniel enough to keep them around. They got lucky, though. Out of all the people to run into in the woods, they’d managed to find probably some of the coolest left alive. Cassidy was unbelievably easy to get along with. She was chill and kept things interesting between her sense of humor and her guitar. Typically, she kept Sean close, something he could tell Daniel wasn’t too fond of.

Penny was nice, too. Odd, talked a lot and most of the time it was vague, but he kept himself and Daniel busy too if his maps were interesting enough at the time. Hannah wasn’t ever unnecessarily mean, never went out of her way to be a bitch. She was just gruff; sensible. The smaller the group, the better. They don’t talk about before - none of them really do, as an unspoken rule to keep things lighter - but from passing conversations and what little they shared, Sean knew Penny, Hannah, Cassidy, and Finn knew each other before the _incident_. Jacob and the Swedish couple came later, and then Sean and Daniel. If anything, they were just a reminder that the group was treading on a dangerous line, being safe on one side of it and being stupid on the other.

Two more cans went in before he lifted his backpack, making sure he could still pick it up. The last thing Sean needed was to get caught out because he was trying to lug around fifty pounds of beans. Finn seemed have been making his way back over just as Sean emerged from the aisle, hands full of a few packs of batteries and a couple books. Sean had caught him a few times early in the morning, reading underneath a tree or out by the lake before the sun got too low. As if he needed more shit to add on to his résumé for the position of coolest dude Sean’s ever known. He must of finished whatever was sitting by his pillows. There wasn’t any doubt that whatever Finn found in a grocery store was going to measure up to Lord of the Flies, but the same shit had to get old at some point. Recalling what little he knew about the novel, Sean wondered if Finn appreciated the irony of his and the plot’s related stories.

“Well, hel- _lo,_ fancy meeting you here. Turn around for me.” Sean did as he was told and tried not to fidget when Finn tugged at the zippers to his bag. “‘M glad we came here. Checked storage and it’s a little nasty but once you kick aside all the expired shit, there’s somethin’ to be found. Few cases of water, but we don’t really have to worry about that yet.” He pulled the zipper closed once again and grabbed at Sean’s shoulders, leaning him back just a bit in order for him to see the grin on Finn’s face. “There. All packed. Ready for your first day of school, honey?”

Sean scoffed, rolled his eyes, but didn’t hide his own smile. “Oh, ha _ha_.”

Finn laughed and gave him a firm shake before he let go, causing the bat hanging on one of the bag’s straps to bounce lightly off the back of his leg.

They made their way back out into the parking lot, Sean looking out over the roads as Finn made sure that the doors were pulled fully shut, looking just as they’d found them. It wasn’t until they were halfway out of the neighborhood that one of them spoke again. Finn was searching in one of his bag’s front pockets when he broke the silence, tone light and mellow, like the bodies on the streets weren’t a bother to him. The smell always got to Sean and he walked with a near constant grimace.

“Thanks for coming with,” he started, still digging around in the pocket. “This kind of shit blows, but… I trust you the most out here, I think.”

“No problem,” Sean replied, a little taken aback. “Everybody’s gotta do their part.”

“Yeah. That’s cool, that you do.” Finn shuffled a bit so his gear sat right and once that was settled he unwrapped the granola bar he’d fished out. He took a bite then offered it over to Sean, who gladly broke himself off a piece. “Hannah’s smart, but, y’know, she can be a little loud at times.” Sean thought of the pitch black double barrel that was usually strapped along Hannah’s back and figured, yeah, he could see that. “Jacob’s afraid of his own shadow. Penny likes watchin’ the lame brains, but he doesn’t do well under pressure. And Ingrid and Anders? You can’t take one without the other and Cass isn’t too into playin’ fetch.”

And, yeah, duh. Of course there was a reason he chose Sean - a practical one, at least. He chewed on the granola bar for a minute, forcing himself to not think too much on it. It was the sweetest thing Sean’s had in probably two months and it was bound to make his stomach sick, but he was tired of running on nothing but coffee until nighttime.

“Is everything okay? Between you and her?” He asked before the silence could stretch for too long. “It’s just that,” he added nervously when Finn didn’t answer in the next second, “you and her are pretty chill and - “

“It’s alright.” They came up to an intersection with one of the four stop signs still standing. On it was written ‘ **RUN** ’ in orange spray paint. Down a block, half of a rotter rolled back and forth in the grass off the road. “She just… had different ideas of what we should be doing. I wouldn’t worry about it, sweetie.”

He was absolutely going to do the opposite of that, but he still put on a show for Finn by nodding. It must not have been convincing, because the older stepped close enough to knock their shoulders together.

“I’m serious. You and the little man are alright by us.”

He stopped abruptly in his tracks, all levity in his expression gone. Sean stopped at the sight of him, too, first looking at him in concern, then up at the sky when he realized that’s where Finn’s gaze landed. It was clear still, bar the flock of birds that suddenly took flight from a few streets over.

“What?”

Finn didn’t answer. Instead, he looked toward the area the birds had originated from - where they were meant to be heading.

“Finn, what is it?”

“Uh,” is all he said at first. He grabbed Sean by one of the straps of his backpack to tug him along as he began walking backward down the road to their right. “We just - have an issue.”

Confused, Sean looked back down the street. A few bodies stumbled around the fire hydrant a few blocks down. A few turned into ten pretty fast. Ten turned into two dozen. Soon the street was filled with rotters, all chasing the sound of the birds.

“Oh _fuck_.”

“Yeah,” Finn agreed, giving him one last meaningful tug before Sean took off for himself.

They were forced deeper into the neighborhood, away from the camp, where abandoned cars cluttered the pavement and the piles of bodies got bigger. Doors to homes were left open, windows busted in, some even completely gutted by fires long since burnt out.

Sean leapt over a woman laying face down on the road. “Watch that,” he called over his shoulder as quiet as he could between his breaths.

“We should head back to Main Street, give the crowd a few streets,” Finn suggested. He was a few paces behind, but Sean refused to panic. Not yet. There was a chance the rotters had caught a glimpse of them, but if they could break line of sight, they won’t have to worry. “Cut back down once we’re far enough east and make it back to the park. It’ll be dark by then but - oh, shitshitshit _shit_ \- “

The thing about the undead, Sean learned, was that they were like ants. At first, only one or two would be apparent, but the longer one looked, the more seemed to appear. They shuffled out from between the cars, sat up from the clusters of the _dead_ dead, fell out from windows and doorways and alleys.

Fuck. Definitely close to panicking. In spite of that, Sean reached back and grabbed for the bat in one, practiced movement. “We need to get off the street!”

Finn nodded, pointed forward.

The house had its doors shut, its windows sealed. It sucked, it really fucking sucked. Anything could be sitting inside waiting for them, but it was better than being caught out in the middle of a fucking herd.

In the yard, a rotter began the process of pulling itself to its feet. Sean passed it close enough to where he could hear the whistling groan that left its throat. Something green poured from underneath its tongue as its mouth fell open, but it hit the grass grey and seeped into the tatters of its clothes. Sean swung his bat upward, the barbed wire pulling along the loose skin on the side of the rotter’s head when it snapped backward. The force of the blow left the rotter flat on its back, though, and Sean brought the bat back down heavily. The wood sank in deep and the whistling stopped.

In that time, Finn had made it up onto the porch and tried the door, but found it locked. He cursed, looked over his shoulder. Another had made it to the yard, a few more from up the street seemed attracted to the soft _thwack_ that ended the first.

“You good, Sean?” He hissed, hoping the other could hear over the distance of the lawn.

“Y-yeah, yeah,” came the quick response. “Is it locked?”

Finn looked over the door, grabbed onto the knob and tested it once more, evaluating. Sean bit his lip anxiously and took a step back from the man rapidly closing in on him. He spared one last glance at Finn, gripped his bat tighter.

“ _Finn_ \- “

“I got it, I got it - I just need - _ten_ seconds!”

Another swing, flesh clinging to wire. The rotter stumbled but didn’t give much pause. “ _Fuck_ …”

“You got this, sweetie,” Finn told him, sounding so impossibly sure. He pulled a wallet from the front pocket of his pants and from that, an ID. “Easy as pie, just a few seconds.”

Sean grit his teeth on the next hit and the man’s neck twisted. Even with its head at an odd angle, it lunged for him and he was only barely able to move out from under it. The dirt beneath them grew wet with old, brown blood when Sean’s bat cracked against its skull. The one that came after that was slower, it’s skin charred and cracked; a victim of one of the fires that devastated a few of the houses. Distantly, hysterically, Sean wondered what the fuck happened before - a riot? General panic? Mutiny of some community that lasted a week after the _incident?_

He kicked at the bone sticking out of the rotter’s knee as hard as he could and ignored the slick _snap_ that resounded. It seemed brittle enough that when it crumpled, Sean brought down the heel of his boot on what he assumed used to be the bridge of its nose, twisting the mess of it until the body stopped writhing. The decay started burning at his nose, then, his eyes. Three old brains spread across the lawn. It stuck in his throat and on his tongue as his breathing was labored, panting.

Something groaned above him, the pitch rising into almost a wail, but it was cut short. Another rotter slumped down, a knife lodged deep in her temple.

“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”

Sean jerked into motion, first ducking underneath the arms of the last rotter and pulling the knife free from the corpse, then sprinting over to the porch. He took the steps by two, the wood creaking, and practically fell into the doorway passed Finn. The door swung shut behind them. The rubber lining dampened the noise.

Safe - at least for the moment. Sean swallowed, made an exasperated noise, and attempted to catch his breath. He pressed a fist to his chest, as if the pressure would slow the racing heart behind his ribcage. _Safe_.

“Fuckin’ A,” Finn all but cheered. Without warning, he pulled Sean off the wall he’d been leaning on and into a tight hug.

“Careful,” Sean admonished, forcing some space between them in order to get the recovered knife away from both of their stomachs. Finn didn’t let go, not all the way. He still gripped hard at Sean’s biceps. He was a little glad for it. Because of their shared space, he took the initiative in replacing the blade back in its makeshift sheath that hung off of Finn’s belt.

“That shit was so _dope_ ,” Finn continued, like he didn’t notice Sean’s hands fiddling around his waist. “Where the fuck does that come from? Did you play?”

“What?” Sean looked down at the bat he’d dropped after Finn gestured toward it. “Oh, I - no, I didn’t. Just, um, track. And field. Track and field.”

“That’s fuckin’ hot.” With that, he let go and left Sean reeling.

They busy themselves on securing the house, checking for a backdoor, windows, bedrooms. The basement was locked but there wasn’t any noise either of them could discern so they left it alone. Little light filtered in through the dust-soaked drapes and the air inside was stale; the house seemed to have been left vacant and still for a very long time.

Outside was a different story. Sean didn’t even have to peek through the drapes to know what it looked like. The dragging of shoes on concrete was a near constant now, the husky breathing of too many bodies bleeding through the walls and into the house. He tried to ignore it as best he could by putting his focus onto his sketchbook. It didn’t work out too well. The sun had been low when they first entered and the drapes made it even more difficult to see. Besides, there weren’t many interesting subjects. He had the outline of Finn sat against the wall and fiddling with the radio, but there were only so many pages he felt he was able to fill with the one guy while remaining morally and mentally sound.

There were enough creepers in the world nowadays.

“They’ll clear up come tomorrow,” Finn stated. He set the radio aside, leaving it on but at low volume so the white noise wasn’t too incessant. Hannah didn’t sound thrilled when he finally caught her but she agreed that sending out a rescue party wasn’t a smart move. Not yet, anyway. She did, however, demand they stay in contact. Every five hours they were meant to call in with an update, earlier if something happened. Even a small hint would be a blessing if it came to it; it was better to know whether or not it was worth looking for them if they went dark.

“Here’s hoping.”

“They will.” Finn still had the ID he’d used earlier in his hand, never having put it back. He tapped it against his knee, turned it over and over, looked at its front at a few times, but never put it down.

Sean stood up and moved over to the window that looked out to the street, lifting the curtains enough to peer out but little enough to not gather any attention from outside. The road was filled, maybe a hundred or so bodies ambling along, luckily all in one direction. It was slow going and a few rotters had either fallen over or just hung in place. Some of those got trampled, falling under the herd’s footsteps.

“There’s so many,” he whispered. “I thought they were supposed to be north.”

Finn laughed once, soft and mirthless. “They are. Our friends outside must’ve broken off in the fog before it cleared.”

Sean’s brow rose. Penny had mentioned something like that earlier in the morning, hadn’t he? “ _These_ are the stragglers?”

“Sure is,” Finn replied after making an affirmative noise. “It’s the big city.”

He shook his head with a disbelieving noise and joined Finn on the floor again. It was hard wood and in dire need of a sweeping, but the couches smelled like cat and a little like piss so they avoided them. “This is so fucked.”

“Aw, we’ll be alright, sweetie.” The grin was back, looking more genuine this time around. Again, like that morning, a hand wrapped around the spot on his thigh just above his knee. Finn pulled his leg over until it was pressed against his own and he shuffled closer so there wasn’t space left between them.

A voice in the back of Sean’s head frantically fretted over whether or not he was too warm. He felt too warm. _Fuck_ , what if he started sweating?

“Do you think,” Finn started, effectively breaking Sean out of his perilous internal dialogue once again. “They’re actually all dead?”

“What? The rotters?”

“Yeah, rotters. Lamebrains, walkers - whatever.”

“Yeah, ‘course.” Frankly, Sean never gave it much thought. It was just something he thought everyone had an understanding on. Even outside the house, a few of the bodies walked along without limbs, without halves, without faces. No one could live through that - not the bloodloss at the very least. “Why?”

“News called it an infection before everything went dark, like they were sick. I don’t know, I just thought…” Finn wasn’t looking at him, eyes locked onto the ID he held. His voice was oddly soft and lacked his normal, lighthearted energy. “Sometimes, when they first turn, they look at you and - it’s almost like they recognize you.”

Sean didn’t answer. Didn’t really know how to. Finn must not have expected him to, though, because he went back to flipping around the ID in the quiet. Eventually he stopped, sighed, and finally held it out like he wanted Sean to take it so he did.

The picture on the front wasn’t one of Finn, but someone who shared a lot of his features. He was older, whoever it was, and smiled the same lazy way Finn did - as if they both had it all figured out and were only waiting for Sean to catch up and realize they were all on the same page.

“Your dad?” He asked.

Finn breathed deep through his nose. “Yeah.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Finn assured with a wave of his hand. “He wasn’t - I mean. It was okay.”

He paused and Sean barely held his tongue, wanting to ask him to continue. With as much as Finn talked, he actually said very little. It was weird to think of someone like Finn as a mystery but it was the only thing Sean could think of. He supposed a lot of people could be classified as such. There wasn’t a lot of time to get into sharing; not enough energy.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Sean told him, despite how he wanted him to do anything but.

“It’s not a big deal. It’s just… he was a front. For hot cars ‘n stuff. Made a business outta stealin’ ‘em. Then strip ‘n sell ‘em. Typical, easy shit. Had me and my brothers help him and it was… _okay_. ‘Til we got caught. Fuckin’ feds wanted us to testify, but my dad narced on us instead.” He said it lightly, as if it were a quiet joke he were sharing, mouth pulled up in half of a grin.

“Jesus.” Sean didn’t try to school his expression. He let his brow furrow in his empathy, because he didn’t feel like ' _that fucking sucks'_ carried enough weight on its own. He still said it, though, and Finn nodded along.

“Yeah. Was still in jail when shit hit the fan worldwide. Went back home when that fell apart, don’t really know why. I didn’t even get to talk to him.” He took the ID from Sean when it was offered back to him and he snorted. “Of course the first time he’s helped with anything it’s breakin’ me into something that isn’t mine.”

Sean knocked his knuckles against the hand still resting on his leg. He got an answer to a question he asked himself earlier. Finn _was_ one to appreciate a little bit of irony.

“After that, I just thought ‘ _fuck_ every _body_ ’. Set off by myself. Week or two down was when I met Hannah, here, at the camp. Cassidy and Penny came and stuck a few days later, and it’s just been us ever since.”

“I thought you and the others knew each other before all this,” Sean mentioned idly after a few moments of silence. At some point their fingers had laced together, which was odd because he hadn’t noticed and he was sure he’d been watching their hands the whole time.

“Really?”

Sean nodded. “You guys just seem really close, I guess. Penny’s tight with everyone, Cass and Hannah act like sisters.”

Finn let out an amused huff. “You mean they start shit with each other all the time.”

“A little bit,” he said, laughing along.

“Yeah, well - they mean well. They have different opinions on things, but only because they care.”

“That’s why Cass was pissed this morning.”

Finn nodded. “She doesn’t like staying in one place for so long. Says the camp is bound to get overrun right when we start to feel too safe. Hannah thinks we’ll be fine as long as we stay smart. She doesn’t like the idea of being on the road anymore, not after… well, you know about Black Flag. The original. There were more, but that one… yeah. And then you got Penny, who’s tryna convince everyone about these walker groups and routes and weather effects - like this shit’s all some government experiment that has a set way.”

Sean pressed his thumb into the older’s palm. “What about you?”

“I’m just tired,” he said with a shrug. “But… I’ll probably just go wherever they go. Don’t really plan on ditching them, y’know? Although, the first to leave the band typically has the better solo career.”

He wanted to laugh, but he was too caught up on implications. “So. You’re leaving soon?”

Finn hesitated but decided on nodding. “Yeah, I think so. Cass’ll get her way eventually. Always does.”

It’s not like Sean was surprised to hear that. Everyone had to move on at some point. There were some truth in Cassidy’s ideals; travel light, take enough people but never to many, and don’t ever get comfortable. The thought of it left something hollow in his chest, though. The Swedish couple had been planning on drifting apart from them in the next few days, talked about some sanctuary further out east they’d heard about from a previous group. Jacob talked to Sean maybe once or twice a day; he’d most likely continue on in search of whoever he was writing those letters to.

That left Sean and Daniel by themselves. Again. Back to square one.

“I never got to say goodbye to my dad either,” Sean said suddenly, not really knowing why. Finn didn’t mention the backtrack and that was nice. Sean was going to miss how easy he was to talk to. “Me and Daniel, we’re from Seattle. It just… happened so fast there. Everything.”

“Yeah,” Finn agreed, the word drawn out and exhausted. “Usually does.”

“Dad wasn’t even bitten, but the evac - it just got fucked up. No one knew what was happening. I don’t know if the guy just panicked or - “ Sean shook his head, feeling as helpless as he did the day it happened. Then again, maybe he never stopped. Maybe he just suppressed the emotion by burying it under everything else in an attempt to ward off the breakdown he was terrified of having. “It’s just been me and Daniel from day one and I don’t have single fucking clue on what I’m supposed to be doing.”

“You’re doing pretty great, all things considering.” A self-deprecating laugh. “Know that might not mean much, coming from me.” It did. “So… you don’t have a plan?”

Sean scoffed. With his free hand, he pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. Stupidly, he hadn’t been thinking about that. He’d put it off. “Besides surviving? No. Options are pretty limited these days.”

Finn shifted, leaving Sean’s side feeling cold but at least now he could see him better. He had a look in his eyes, something hopeful - a look Sean had long since learned to simultaneously love and feel exasperated at the sight of. Looks like _that_ landed them in an old dead woman’s house hiding from a few dozen rotters.

“Why not stick with us?”

Sean blinked, waiting for the rest, but it never came. No catch, no stipulations - just the proposition he thought he’d never be offered. All at once, everything felt so surreal. “Really? You’d all be cool with that?”

Finn’s giddy expression seemed to match exactly what he was feeling. “Yeah! Only if you were, though - no pressure!”

“No, I - yeah! Yeah, Daniel… is gonna freak.”

“Yeah, he’s a good kid. Reminds me of myself.” Finn didn’t look away, so Sean didn’t either. He probably wouldn’t be able to, not with how pleased the older looked with himself. It was… cute. “I’m really glad I met you, Sean.”

Fuck, he was _really_ cute. “Me, too.”

Both of them turned more into each other. Sean didn’t know which one started that. Either way, Finn used the closeness to reach around for the back of Sean’s neck. He pulled him toward him until their foreheads nearly touched. “I feel like you and I, we have a really strong connection.”

“Yeah, I… feel the same.”

He felt fingers thread into his hair, saw the moment Finn’s grin softened into a real smile. “What are you afraid of then?”

_I’m afraid of dying_ , a voice supplied. _Of Daniel dying. Losing Daniel somewhere. Running out of food. Rotters, people, getting sick. Everything._

“Nothing,” he said anyway, and in that very second it felt like the absolute truth.

Sean couldn’t wait any longer, but it seemed like Finn couldn’t either because they moved at the same time -

And Sean was an artist, definitely not a writer. Words were probably his greatest enemy. He wouldn’t even know where to start if he were asked to describe how Finn kissed, the taste of it, how it felt - not accurately. That shit was beyond him. He just knew that he loved the way he could feel the other’s smile against his and that when he went to pull away, Finn chased him for another kiss.

He knew it was important. Sean was sure of that.

“You should try and sleep,” Finn said once he finally let him go. He seemed reluctant to do so and Sean shared the sentiment, but at the mention of sleep his exhaustion hit him all at once.

“You sure?” He still asked.

“I’m sure. I’ll wake you up for second watch.”

Sean didn’t move far, slumping down onto the floor and moving his backpack underneath him. The cans it was filled with didn’t make for a comfortable pillow and the sweatshirt he pulled off to bunch up on top of it hardly made any approvement. Still, even that couldn’t wipe the goofy ass grin off his face. He laid down on his side facing away from Finn so he at least couldn’t see how much of a total fucking loser he just committed himself to.

Actually, even if he saw, who gave a fuck? No take backs in the apocalypse.

 

/----\

 

They returned to the camp around half past noon where they were immediately intercepted by Cassidy. She’d been waiting for them since she got word by radio that they were heading back onto the streets.

“Some fuckin’ plan,” she chided the second they were in earshot, which had Finn laughing.

“We got back, didn’t we?”

That earned him a rather hard punch to the shoulder.

“Hannah wants to talk to you. She’s pissed.”

“No she’s not,” he replied, a little sing-songy. Still, he didn’t stop when they reached Cassidy, just threw a wink over his shoulder at Sean. “I’ll see you later, sweetie.”

Sean shook his head, rolled his eyes, and did nothing to hide the smile on his face. Cassidy grabbed his elbow and his attention.

“Hey. Finn didn’t say what happened, but it had to be nasty shit if it kept you out all night.” She looked him over, like she might find an injury she hadn’t seen at first, but came up empty and met his gaze again. “You alright?”

Saying _‘I’m falling in love_ ’ seemed ridiculous, would make him feel stupid, but it was the only thing he was thinking about. His mouth only took the shape of _those_ words, so he snapped his jaw shut and settled on just nodding.

Cassidy gave him an odd look, obviously not convinced, but was kind enough to drop it. “Alright, then. Just a couple of bros and their No Girls Allowed policy, huh?”

“Uh, no, it’s not - “

She laughed, knocking him off balance a little with a friendly elbow. “I’m only playin’. I’m glad you’re back.”

Sean sighed and fell into Cassidy’s slow pace in the direction of their camp. “Yeah, me, too. You have no idea.”

**Author's Note:**

> some facts about this mess  
> \+ i don't have a preference on pop-tarts. they all kinda taste like chalk to me so take the opinion on brown sugar pop-tarts with a grain of salt lmao  
> \+ hannah absolutely named her shottie after her dog  
> \+ i've never written for this fandom in my life so the characterization is prolly ass
> 
> idk if i'll ever get around to fleshing this universe out. zombies are a lot of fun to write so it's likely. if you got any zombie tropes you wanna see and are willing to share, lemme know bcuz inspiration is dope
> 
> also again if there's a tag you don't see but would like to, comment that too :^) or like mistakes and shit like spelling or the spanish. i can't remember if i used a lot but if there's an error definitely correct me on that


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